Wright of Derby, A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery (article) | Khan Academy Wright of Derby, A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery Email Joseph Wright of Derby, A Philosopher Giving a Lecture at the Orrery (in which a lamp is put in place of the sun), c. 1763-65, oil on canvas, 4' 10" x 6' 8" (Derby Museums and Art Gallery, Derby) Joseph Wright of Derby, A Philosopher Giving a Lecture at the Orrery (in which a lamp is put in place of the sun), c. 1763-65, oil on canvas, 4' 10" x 6' 8" (Derby Museums and Art Gallery, Derby) Two young boys, gazing over the edge of the contraption in playful wonder. A teenaged girl, her arms resting on the machine, in quiet contemplation. A young man shielding his eyes from the brilliance of the light emanating from the center, and a young woman staring unblinkingly. A standing man taking copious notes on the proceedings.

Another man leaning back in his seat, listening intently to the gray-haired lecturer, captivating his audience like a magician. A key idea of the Age of Enlightenment—that empirical observation grounded in science and reason could best advance society—is expressed by the faces of the individuals in Joseph Wright of Derby’s A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery. The Age of Enlightenment Wright’s painting encapsulates in one moment the Enlightenment, a philosophical shift in the eighteenth century away from traditional religious models of the universe and toward an empirical, scientific approach. It is important to note the term given this new way of thinking. “Enlightenment” indicates an active process, undertaken by an individual by group. The age of Enlightenment is most closely associated with scientists and inventors, but writers and artists also played major roles. They helped spread enlightenment concepts via the written word and printed image, and inspired others to think rationally about the world in which they lived. The provincial English painter Joseph Wright of Derby became the unofficial artist of the Enlightenment, depicting scientists and philosophers in ways previously reserved for Biblical heroes and Greek gods.

Joseph Wright of Derby Joseph Wright of Derby was born in the town of Derby in central England, and save for short stints in Liverpool and London, lived in that city his entire life. He was known even during his lifetime as Joseph Wright of Derby, to distinguish him from another artist of the same name. Even though Wright of Derby was the more talented of the two, he was stuck with the geographical identifier on his name. Other than Thomas Gainsborough, who spent much of his career in the high-society resort town of Bath, Wright was the most prominent English painter of the eighteenth century to spend the majority of his career outside of London. Operating without the constraints of the mainstream London art world, Wright was free to explore a general interest in science with his friends, a group that included Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles) and other members of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, an informal learned society which met to discuss scientific topics of the day. Wright was known for his deft depiction of the contrasts between light and dark, also known as chiaroscuro, and his unflinching portrayal of the true personalities of his subjects.

This trait caused his downfall when he attempted to work as a portraitist—few wanted a portrait, warts and all. The Intensity of Scientific Discovery In the 1760s Wright began to explore the traditional boundaries of various genres of painting. According to the French academies of art, the highest genre of painting was history painting, which depicted Biblical or classical subjects to demonstrate a moral lesson. This high regard for history panting was adopted by the British—Benjamin West’s The Death of General Wolfe is a prominent example. Johan Joseph Zoffany, The Gore Family with George, third Earl Cowper, c. 1775, oil on canvas (Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection) Johan Joseph Zoffany, The Gore Family with George, third Earl Cowper, c. 1775, oil on canvas (Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection) Wright took this noble, aggrandizing method of portraying events and applied it to a composition showing a contemporary subject in A Philosopher Lecturing at the Orrery. Rather than a moral of leadership or heroism, this painting’s “moral” is the pursuit of scientific knowledge.

With its collection of non-idealized men, women, boys, and girls informally arranged in a small physical space around a central organizing point, Wright’s painting mimics the compositional structure of a conversation piece (an informal group portrait) like Zoffany's Gore Family (above), but with the dramatic lighting and scale expected from a major religious scene. In effect, A Philosopher Lecturing at the Orrery does depict a moment of religious epiphany. Much like the central figure in Caravaggio’s Calling of Saint Matthew (below), the figures listening to the philosopher’s lecture in Wright’s painting are experiencing conversion...to science. Heroizing the Search for Knowledge Orrery, c. 1750 (British Museum) Orrery, c. 1750 (British Museum) An orrery is a mechanical model of the solar system, a miniature, clockwork planetarium. Each planet, with its moons, is a sphere attached to a swing arm which allows it to rotate around the sun when cranked by hand. When in motion, the orrery depicts the orbits of each planet, as well as their relative relationship to each other.

The orrery depicted by Wright has large metal rings which can simulate eclipses, and give the model a striking and exciting three-dimensionality. Orrery, c. 1750 (British Museum) Orrery, c. 1750 (British Museum) Although each of the figures in the painting is clearly modeled on a specific person, Wright’s work was not meant to be a conversation piece in the eighteenth century sense of the word, and so we can only guess at the identities of each person. Most likely the man standing and taking notes is Wright’s friend Peter Perez Burdett, and the man seated at the far right may be Washington Shirley, 5th Earl Ferrers, the initial owner of the work. Several identities have been proposed for the philosopher delivering the lecture. The most tempting theory is that his face is modeled on that of Sir Isaac Newton, the great English scientist whose work helped herald in the Enlightenment. Another possibility is that it is a member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham. Jesus beckoning to Matthew (detail), Caravaggio, Calling of Saint Matthew, c.

1599-1600, oil on canvas, 322 cm × 340 cm (San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome) Jesus beckoning to Matthew (detail), Caravaggio, Calling of Saint Matthew, c. 1599-1600, oil on canvas, 322 cm × 340 cm (San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome) The events depicted, although exciting, do not give A Philosopher Lecturing at the Orrery its high dramatic impact. That responsibility falls on the paintings strong internal light source, the lamp that takes the role of the sun. Wright mimics Baroque artists like Caravaggio, who inserted strong light sources in otherwise dark compositions to create dramatic effect. Most of these earlier works were Christian subjects, and the light sources were often simple candles. Wright flips the script with his scientific subject matter. The gas lamp which acts as the sun pulls double duty in the painting. It illuminates the scene, allowing the viewer to clearly see the figures within, and it symbolizes the active enlightenment in which those figures are participating.

Essay by Abram Fox Joseph Wright of Derby: English Genre-Painter of Industrial Interiors The Orrery (1766) Derby Art Gallery COLOURS USED IN PAINTING see: Colour Palette Eighteenth Century Biography One of the best English painters ever, the highly original artist Joseph Wright - active mainly in the Midlands - was a portraitist, landscape and genre painter. Although he studied the Renaissance masters in Italy for 2 years, he is best known for his genre painting - mostly scenes from the British industrial revolution. His most memorable paintings are of darkened workshop interiors and scenes of scientific experiments. He was strongly influenced by 17th century Dutch Realist genre painting , in particular by the candlelit scenes popular with the Utrecht followers of Caravaggio. He was also the first significant contributor to English Figurative Painting to be based outside London (he spent most of life in Derby), and his versatile painting technique, use of chiaroscuro and tenebrism , as well as his innovative subject choice, ensured his position as one of the leading members of the Romanticism movement.

Wright's best known paintings include The Orrery (1766, The Derby Museum) and An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768, National Gallery London). THE ENGLISH SCHOOL Best Genre Painters . Artistic Studies Wright was born in Derby in 1734, his family were middle class and in a financially secure situation. Educated at a local grammar school, Wright taught himself how to draw by copying prints. In 1751, he moved to London to study under the portrait painter Thomas Hudson (170179), another pupil of whom was Joshua Reynolds (1723-92), the future President of the Royal Academy London . In 1756, Wright returned to Derby and set up as a portrait painter, developing interesting chiaroscuro effects after seeing works by the Utrecht Caravaggisti. Caravaggism describes the group of Baroque artists, mainly active in the Dutch city of Utrecht during the 17th century, who were followers of the great Italian Mannerist painter Caravaggio .

Important members of this group were Gerrit van Honthorst (1592-1656), Dirck van Baburen (1595-1624) and Hendrick Terbrugghen (1588-1629). Their most direct influence was on the Dutch artist Rembrandt (160669), who as a portrait painter became a master of depicting light and shadow. Wright painted several portraits of family and friends at this time, including an early Self-Portrait (1753). Candlelight Period of Genre Paintings During what is known as his 'candlelight period' (up until 1769), Wright produced his three greatest genre paintings . These were: Three Persons viewing 'The Gladiator' by Candlelight (1765, private collection); The Orrery (1766, The Derby Museum) and An Experiment on a Bird in the Airpump (1768, National Gallery, London). In The Orrery, Wright depicts a scientist using an Orrery to demonstrate the workings of the solar system.

An artificial light has been placed in the position of the sun, and the 'rays' shine out on the group of middle class people who are gathered around. The light acts as a metaphor for the age of Enlightment. At the time, Newton's discovery that the planets revolve around the sun and not the earth was still new. Along with his Bird in the Air Pump (which was an experiment demonstrating the importance of air in supporting life), The Orrery is one of the artist's most famous paintings and illustrates his pre-occupation was with the education of the newly emerging middle class and the range of dramatic effects possible with artificial light. Wright had connections with Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles) and the Lunar Society, which brought together leading scientists and industrialists. Two of his most important patrons came from this group, Josiah Wedgwood (of pottery fame) and Richard Arkwright (cotton industrialist). Italy Between 1773 and 1775, Wright carried out a study visit to Italy, and was particularly influenced by the landscape painting of Claude-Joseph Vernet (1714-89), a French painter who was working in Rome at the time.

Vernet's sunsets, moonlight scenes and shipwrecks displayed a mastery of atmospheric light. This encouraged Wright to paint Italian landscapes in the same manner, with nocturnal light effects, such as the Vesuvius in Eruption, with a View over the Islands in the Bay of Naples (1776-80, Tate Gallery). On his return to England in 1775, the artist hoped to establish himself as a fashionable portrait painter in Bath - particularly since a potential rival, Thomas Gainsborough (172788) had just left town. Two years later, without much success, he returned to Derby, where he remained the rest of his days. Portraits Even though Wright enjoyed landscape paintings, they remained largely unsold. Portrait art continued to be his primary source of income for most of his life. His best pictures date from the 1780s and include Sir Brooke Boothby (1781, Tate Gallery, London). Boothby was a Derby landowner and intellectual. He is depicted lying down by a stream holding a book entitled Rousseau. Boothby had published the Swiss philosophers autobiographical dialogues.

There is a height of realism in Wright's portraits, but the brushstrokes are soft and romantic. Wright's Indian Widow (1785, Derby Museum) was inspired by reading James Adair's History of the American Indian. The widow, sits alone on a mountain top, she looks like a classical figure from antiquities sculpture - an overture perhaps to international Neoclassicism. The volcano in the background was more to do with the one he saw in Italy, than it had to do with North America. Reputation Wright contributed regularly to the exhibitions of the Society of Artists, and to the London Royal Academy. He was elected a full member of the Academy in 1784 but because of a quarrel over the display of his paintings, he declined the invitation. He died in 1797 at the age of 63, stricken with ill health and clinical paranoia. Original, if outside the mainstream, his painting has often been compared to the French artist and melodramatic genre-painter Jean-Baptiste Greuze (17251805).

Other Romantic artists in England who were influenced in part by Wright's work included JMW Turner (1775-1851) and Samuel Palmer (1805-81). The most extensive collection of his work resides in the Derby Art Gallery, although he is also represented in the best art museums across Britain and further afield.  For more biographies of English artists, see: Famous Painters .  For more information about 18th century painting in England, see: Homepage . ENCYCLOPEDIA OF VISUAL ARTISTS Joseph Wright Gallery – Derby Museums Joseph Wright Gallery Derby Museums is home to the world’s largest collection of works by Joseph Wright of Derby. Born in Derby in 1734, Wright is an internationally renowned artist, whose paintings and works on paper adorn the walls of major galleries the world over. Famed as a “painter of light” and for his association with key members of the intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment, he is now considered to be one of Britain’s most interesting and wide-ranging painters. The Joseph Wright Gallery is a permanent space dedicated to showcasing the full range of his spectacular paintings alongside small, temporary displays of drawings and prints from the museums’ collection.

What can I see? The Joseph Wright Gallery is the place to see Wright’s masterpieces, A Philosopher Giving that Lecture on an Orrery, in which a Lamp is put in the Place of the Sun, and An Alchymist. His much-loved paintings The Widow of an Indian Chief and Landscape with a Rainbow can also be enjoyed, alongside many others. A small number of works loaned from private collections enrich the permanent display from time to time. What can I do? In the Joseph Wright Gallery you can see twenty-seven paintings by Joseph Wright and read in-depth information about each work. Our knowledgeable gallery assistants are on hand to help you answer any questions you might have. We also run a lively programme of talks and tours on Wright, and families can pick up a Joseph Wright Kit to learn more about the artist and his paintings. What can I learn? In the Joseph Wright Gallery you can learn more about Wright, his life, and world. Discover what it is about Wright’s work that continues to draw people to Derby from all over the world.

Visit our online SHOP Joseph Wright 'of Derby' | artist | 1734 - 1797 | National Gallery, London £ other Make this a monthly donation [{"Amount":10.0000,"CurrencyCode":"GBP","DonationDate":"2016-08-02T04:18:28","DonorDisplayName":"Suzanne Burke","DonorLocalAmount":10.0000,"DonorLocalCurrencyCode":"GBP","EstimatedTaxReclaim":0.0000,"ImageUrl":"","Message":"Excellent online information for my students!"},{"Amount":8.3800,"CurrencyCode":"GBP","DonationDate":"2016-09-06T21:24:18","DonorDisplayName":"Andreas","DonorLocalAmount":10.0000,"DonorLocalCurrencyCode":"EUR","EstimatedTaxReclaim":0.0000,"ImageUrl":"","Message":"It is great to visit for free such a prestigious museum.

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0.0000,"DonorLocalCurrencyCode":"GBP","EstimatedTaxReclaim":2.5000,"ImageUrl":"","Message":"The wonderful National Gallery deserves all the support it can get."}] Joseph Wright 'of Derby' The Blacksmith's Shop The Blacksmith's Shop Oil on canvas Dimensions 50 1/2 x 41 inches (128.3 x 104.1 cm) Frame: 55 1/2 × 45 1/4 inches (141 × 114.9 cm) Inscription(s)/ Signed and dated, lower right: "Jo:[symbol] Wright | Pinx [symbol] 1771." Credit Line Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection Accession Number Subject Terms angels | anvil (tool) | apprentices | blacksmiths | boys | children | church | clouds | contrast | genre subject | horseshoes (animal equipment) | labor | light | machines | metal | monastery | moon | moonlight | night | religious (people) | ruins | shop | tools | woman | workers Publications Julia Marciari-Alexander, This other Eden, paintings from the Yale Center for British Art, Yale

 Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1998, p.

80, no. 27, ND1314.3 Y36 1998 (YCBA) Paul Mellon's legacy, a passion for British art. [large print labels], Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, v. 3, N5220 M552 +P381 2007, Mellon Shelf (YCBA) Ellis Waterhouse, Dictionary of British 18th century painters in oils and crayons, Antique Collectors' Club, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1981, p. 427, ND466 W38 OVERSIZE (YCBA) Yale Center for British Art, Selected paintings, drawings & books, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1977, p. 33, N590.2 A82 (YCBA) Malcolm Warner, Great British paintings from American collections, Holbein to Hockney, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2001, p. 115, no.

27, ND464 W27 2001 (YCBA) Malcolm Cormack, A concise catalogue of paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 262-263, N590.2 A83 (YCBA) Michael Rosenthal, The art of Thomas Gainsborough, "a little business for the eye", Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1999, pp. 82-83, 219, pl. 79, NJ18 G16 R67 1999 (YCBA) Ronald Paulson, Emblem and expression, meaning in English art of the eighteenth century, Thames and Hudson, London, 1975, pp. 190-3, pl. 124, NX543 P38 (YCBA) E. D. H. Johnson, Paintings of the British social scene, from Hogarth to Sickert, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1986, p. 128, no.

87, ND1452 G7 J64 (YCBA) Stephen Daniels, Joseph Wright, Tate Publishing, London, 1999, pp. 49-50, NJ18 W95 D25 1999 (YCBA) Ronald Paulson, Breaking and remaking, aesthetic practice in England, 1700-1820, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 1989, pp. 203-4, fig. 21, BH221 G72 P38 1989 (YCBA) David Alexander, Painters and engraving, the reproductive print from Hogarth to Wilkie, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1980, p. 31, no. 51, NE631.2 A43 (YCBA) Judy Egerton, Wright of Derby, Tate Publishing, London, 1990, pp. 99-100, no. 47, NJ18 W95 E54 1990 (YCBA) + Joseph Wright of Derby, a selection of paintings from the Collection of Mr.

and Mrs. Paul Mellon. [Exhibition] November 22, 1969 to May 1, 1970., National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1969, no. 3, NJ18 W95 U5 (YCBA) Benedict Nicolson, Joseph Wright of Derby, painter of light, Paul Mellon Foundation for British Art, London, New York, 1968, pp. 17, 50-1..., no. 199, fig. 33, 58-9, NJ18 W95 N53 + (YCBA) Joseph Wright of Derby, 1734-1797, an exhibition of paintings and drawings, the Tate Gallery, 11 April to 18 May, the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 31 May to 21 June, Arts Council of Great Britain, London, UK, 1958, no. 8, NJ18 W95 A77 (YCBA) Denis E.

Cosgrove, The Iconography of landscape, essays on the symbolic representation, design, and use of past environments, 9, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [England] New York, 1988, pp. 129-34, fig. 7, NX650.L34 I26 1988 (YCBA) Ronald Paulson, Hogarth's harlot, sacred parody in Enlightenment England, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 2003, pp. 146, 160-2, fig. 40, BR758 P38 2003 (YCBA) Albert Boime, Art in an age of revolution, 1750-1800, v. 1, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1987, pp. 247-9, fig.

3.18, N6425 N4 B65 1987 (YCBA) Judy Egerton, Joseph Wright of Derby, 1734-1797, Londres, Tate Gallery, 7 fâevrier-22 avril 1990 ; Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 17 mai-23 juillet 1990 ; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 6 septembre-2 dâecembre 1990, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris, 1990, no. 35, NJ18 W95 E5414 1990 OVERSIZE (YCBA) Gillian Perry, Unit 29, Joseph Wright of Derby, Open University Press, Milton Keynes (England), 1987, p. 32, NJ18 W95 P47 OVERSIZE (YCBA) Roy Morris, Engravings After Joseph Wright, A.R.A., Print-Collector's Quarterly, vol. 19, April 1932, pp.

94-115, Je10 P933 (LSF) E. P. Birk, English Painter of Light: Exhibition at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., Magazine Antiques, vol. 97, February 1970, p. 164, NK1125 A3 OVERSIZE (HAAS) Frederick J. Cummings, Joseph Wright at the National Gallery, Art Quarterly, vol. 34, Winter 1971, pp. 457-82, J10 Ar81 + (LSF) Annalisa Bellerio, Joseph Wright of Derby 1734-1797, FMR, No. 87, September 1997, pp. 8-9., N1 F16 OVERSIZE (HAAS) Benedict Nicolson, Joseph Wright's Early Subject Pictures, Burlington Magazine, vol. 96, no. 612, March 1954, pp. 72-80, fig. 5, N1 B87 OVERSIZE (YCBA) , Available online in JStor.

Malcolm Cormack, A Selective Promenade, Apollo, v.105, no. 182, April 1977, pp. 288, 291, fig. 7, N1 A54 + (YCBA) , Another copy of this article may be found in a separately bound and catalogued copy of this issue located on the Mellon Shelf [call number : N5220 M552 A7 1977 + (YCBA)] Jane Kristof, Blacksmiths, Weavers, and Artists: Images of Labor in the 19th Century, Nineteenth Century Contexts, vol. 17, 1993, p. 183, fig. 6, Yale Internet Resource Susan L. Siegfried, Engaging the Audience, Sexual Economies of Vision in Joseph Wright, Representations, No. 68, Autumn 1999, pp. 35-38, fig. 1, Available online Susan L. Siegfried, Engaging the Audience, Sexual Economies of Vision in Joseph Wright, Representations, No. 68, Autumn 1999, pp.

35-38, fig. 1, NX1 R46 (YCBA) , also available online David H. Solkin, Joseph Wright of Derby and the Sublime Art of Labor, Representations, vol. 83, Summer 2003, pp. 167-194 n.44, fig. 1, NX1 R46 (SML) , Available online in JStor. Bruce W. Chambers, The Pythagorean Puzzle of Patrick Lyon, Art Bulletin, v. 58, June 1976, pp. 231-32, fig. 13, N11 C4 + (YCBA) Joseph Wright of Derby in Liverpool, May 22 - August 31, 2008., Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2008, p. 10, V 2193 (YCBA) Elizabeth E. Barker, Joseph Wright of Derby in Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool New Haven, 2007, pp.

49, 52, 67-9, cat.41, NJ18 W95 B36 2007 + (YCBA) Exhibition at Washington, Apollo, March 1970, p. 244, fig. 5, N1 A54 + (YCBA) Prof. David Bindman, The History of British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Conn., 2008, pp. 182-83 (v.2), ffig. 116, N6761 H57 2008 + Oversize (YCBA) Celina Fox, The arts of industry in the Age of Enlightenment, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2009, p. 428, fig. 214, N72.T4 F69 2009 OVERSIZE (YCBA) British Art at Yale, Apollo, v.105, no. 182, April 1977, pp. 288, 291, fig.

7, N5220 M552 A7 1977 OVERSIZE (YCBA) , Published as April 1977 issue of Apollo; all of the articles may also be found in bound Apollo Volume [N1 A54 105:2 +] Matthew Hargraves, Joseph Wright of Derby and the Society of Artists of Great Britain, British Art Journal, Vol. 11, no. 1, 2010 (Spring), pp. 56-57, Pl. 3, N6761 B74 OVERSIZE (YCBA) , Also available on line (ORBIS) The Weir family, 1820-1920, expanding the traditions of American art, Brigham Young University Museum of Art, Provo, Utah and Hanover, N.H., 2011, p. 123, NJ18 W4268 A12 2012 (LC) Oversize (HAAS) Timothy J. Barringer, The Englishness of Thomas Cole, University of New Hampshire Press, Durham, NH, 2011, p.

14, V2383 (YCBA Eric Robinson, Shorter Notices, Joseph Wright of Derby : The Philosophers' Painter, Burlington Magazine, vol. 100, The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd., June 1958, p. 214, N1 B87 100 OVERSIZE (YCBA) Joseph Burke, The Iconography of the Enlightenment in English Art, Sydney University Press for the Australian Academy of the Humanities, 1970, pp. 15-16, pl. 6, N6766 B87 Catherine M. Gordon, British paintings Hogarth to Turner, Frederick Warne, London, 1981, p. 78, ND466 G67 (YCBA) The ruin and the sketch in the eighteenth century, vol. 2, Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, Trier, 2008, pp. 185-87, fig 6, N6766 .R75 2008 (YCBA) Loyd Grossman, Benjamin West and the struggle to be modern, Merrell, London: New York, 2015, pp.

108.111, 112, fig. 52, NJ18.W52 G76 2015 (YCBA) Citation Joseph Wright of Derby Biography (black and white chalk on paper) Name: Joseph Wright Born: Derby, England 3 September 1734 Died: Derby, England 29 August 1797 Joseph Wright was born in Derby, a small city in central England, at the heart of the Industrial Revolution. He was the third son of John Wright, attorney and town Clerk, and his wife Hannah Brooks. His early interest and talent in portrait drawing lead him to train formally from around the age of 17 in the studio of Thomas Hudson in London, initially for a period of 2 years in 1751 and then again for 15 months in 1756 to polish his technique. Returning to live in Derby, his reputation and career as a portrait painter began to flourish and he obtained commisions not only from Derby but increasingly from throughout nearby towns and cities.

He first exhibited in London at the Society of Artists in 1765, aged 31, showing two works including "Three Persons Viewing the Gladiator by Candlelight". This was the first of a series of 'candlelight' compositions by which his name became established. The two major works of this period were, to give their full titles, "A Philosopher Giving that Lecture on the Orrery in which a Lamp is put in place of the Sun" (1766), and "An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump" (1768). They represent a complex combination of art, science and philosophy and owe much to the Wright's circle of friends who included members of an important provincial group of philosophers, scientists and engineers, collectively known as the "Lunar Society" - a title derived from their custom of meeting monthly on the Monday nearest the full moon. They demonstrated experiments and discussed the latest developments in chemistry, medicine, electricity, gases and industrial topics. Among the members famous today were Josiah Wedgewood, the ceramics manufacturer; James Watt, developer of the steam engine; Joseph Priestly, chemist; and Dr Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of the evolutionist Charles Darwin.

The interests of the Society represented a microcosm of the European movement of the 'Enlightment' which, during the 17th and 18th centuries, radically transformed man's view of himself, in relation to his place in the universal order, and to God, through developments in intellectual, philosophical, religious and scientific thought and related literature. Wright appears to have been particularly influenced by two members of the group: John Whitehurst FRS (1713-88) and Dr Erasmus Darwin FRS (1731-1802). Whitehurst was by trade a maker of clocks, watches, barometres and other instruments and he lived only a few doors away from Wright's parental home at No.28 Irongate, Derby. He was also a well-known geologist, publishing in 1778 an "Inquiry into the Original State and Formation of the Earth" which addressed the issue of Creation and specifically the topic of volcanoes - of particular interest to Wright who, during his trip to Italy (1773-5), witnessed an eruption of Vesuvius.

Indeed, over the next twenty years, so much did the sense of volcanic power and drama appeal to him, he was to paint over 30 pictures of Mount Vesuvius. Erasmus Darwin studied medicine at Cambridge and Edinburgh before taking up practice in Lichfield in 1756, moving to nearby Derby in 1781. However, his interests were wide-ranging, ecompassing atmospherics, electricity, gasses, geology, canals and botany in addition to medicine. He also composed poetry. He was a lifelong friend of Wright and also his physician, treating him for an ongoing depressive state from which he suffered for the last 20 years of his life. Wright painted his portrait several times, the second one (c.1793) depicting the doctor in his literary role, holding a quill pen, having just completed his long didactic poem "The Botanic Garden" which embraced a muliplicity of scientific ideas, discoveries and inventions of his age, including descriptions of the planetary systems and the workings of the air pump, which feature in Wright's paintings.

The 'Orrery' was invented in the early 18th century to show the movement of the planets around the sun during the course of the year. It was named after the Earl of Orrery who sponsored its invention. The instrument was operated by turning a handle on the base which drove a clockwork mechanism, setting the planets in motion on concentric discs around the centre where a brass sphere on a stem usually represented the sun. In Wright's painting the sun is represented by a lamp-wick burning in a jar of oil, another method of depiction, one ideally suited to his dramatic intent in which the philosopher is explaining a point to the man standing beside him taking notes, while the expressions and gestures of the other, apparently middle-class non-scholarly figures, portray their interest, curiosity and amazement as they study this model of their own Universe. The cosmological theme of Wright's painting of the Orrery relates to the subject of of Whitehurst's treatise "Inquiry into the Original State and Formation of the Earth" in which he attempts to "inquire after those laws by which the Creator chose to form the World" by explaining the creation of the Earth from particles of matter in space according to Newton's theory of universal gravitation.

Wright and Whitehurst were therefore similiarly concerned with Newtonian physics and philosophy and the latter's experience as a clockmaker would also have enabled him to advise his friend on the operation of the Orrery. It is also likely that Wright was able to attend just such a lecture on the Orrery as depicted in his painting, given in Derby in 1762 by Whitehurst's friend, the Scottish astronomer, James Ferguson (1710-76). Ferguson made scientic instruments, including the Orrery, in his London workshop and also travelled the country giving lectures. Wright's second scientific painting "An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump" also draws on the content of Ferguson's lectures, which included demonstrations on the air pump producing a vacuum. However it is unlikely that Ferguson's demonstration took the form shown in this painting since in this published lecture notes of 1760 he specifially states: "If a fowl, a cat, rat, mouse or bird be put under the receiver, and the air be exhausted, the animal is at first oppressed as with a great weight, then grows convulsed, and at last expires in all the agonies of a most bitter and cruel death.

But as this experiment is too shocking to every spectator who has the least degree of humanity, we substitute a machine called the 'lung-glass' in place on the animal; which, by a bladder within it, shows how the lungs of animals are contracted into a small compass when the air is taken out of them". However, what Wright chose to paint was the more shocking vision of the experiment employing a live bird, thus enabling him to increase the dramatic effect by depicting distress and horror in the girls' faces. It also explicitly highlights his interest in the portrayal of the theme of human mortality, presenting a spectacle of death in the context of the Laws of Nature. The term used to define man's responses to the natural world, particularly those of awe, fear and terror, was 'Sublime' (c.f. Edmund Burke's "Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful", 1757). Furthermore, the penetrating stare and outstretched arm of the philosopher have the effect of making the viewer participate in the experience. The contemorary religious connotations are quite clear. Wright spent most of his life in Derby.

He worked in Liverpool from 1769 to 1771; he also travelled to Italy, arriving in Rome in February 1774 and returning to Derby in September 1775; then he attempted, unsuccessfully, to emulate Gainsbourgh as a fashionable portrait painter in Bath between 1775-7. However, only Italy left any lasting impression on his work and the fiery subjects of Vesuvius and the Fireworks in Rome (Girandola), extended his interest in the effects of light into an altogether vaster, ourdoor scale. Joseph Wright married Hannah Swift in 1773 and they had six children, three of whom died in infancy. Hannah died in 1790 but Wright continued to paint up until his final year. He became increasingly asthmatic and nervous about the house and for these complaints he was treated by his friend Dr Darwin. He died at his new home at No.28 Queen Street, Derby, where he spent his final months with his two daughters, on 29th August 1797.

The name "Wright of Derby" was applied to him by reviewers of the Society of Artists' exhibitions in the 1760s, to distinguish him from the Liverpool artist, Richard Wright, who was already exhibiting. The American artist Joseph Wright also arrived in England in 1772, making the style "Wright of Derby" even more helpful. He is not known to have complained about the title and it it by this name that his reputation has endured as one of the most original, wide-ranging and talented English artists of the 18th century. [Ref: articles by Judy Egerton and David Fraser, Tate Gallery, London, 1990]

Question: With which English city is the 18th century artist Joseph Wright associated?
Answer: DERBY